China has pledged to take further steps gradually to increase the flexibility of its currency and to boost domestic consumer demand, as part of a package of measures pledged by the world’s five key economic players to tackle the threat from global economic imbalances.

The slate of specific policy commitments from the five economic powers — the United States, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia and the eurozone — came after ground-breaking, year-long talks convened and led by the International Monetary Fund.

The proposals, foreshadowed by Rodrigo de Rato, the IMF managing director, in an exclusive interview with The Times on Thursday, were unveiled on Saturday after being presented to the fund’s policy-making International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), chaired by Gordon Brown.

Wide and growing global imbalances, shown by the vast US balance of payments deficit and its counterpart in big trade surpluses in economies in Asia, have long been seen as the Achilles’ heel of the world economy.

The persistent fear is that were these to unwind abruptly, the likely consequences, including a drastic slump in the dollar and steep falls in US asset markets, would plunge America and the world into recession.

This weekend’s measures from the five key economies that drive the imbalances are intended to help to deliver a gradual easing of the problem by promoting a further rebalancing of demand across the world. That would require weaker consumption, more saving and tighter government finances in the United States, alongside stronger demand in Europe and Asia.

The series of specific steps pledged on Saturday by each of the five powers are designed in principle to foster these trends.

However, there was immediate scepticism over how successful the initiative will prove in practice, since the measures simply represented an inventory of existing plans already set out by the Group of Seven leading industrial economies as well as at the IMFC.

Despite that, the IMF and G7 officials hope that, by promoting the informal dialogue through the fund’s “multilateral consultations”, there will be a shared commitment to taking concrete steps, as well as mutual understanding between the five powers. That could prove crucial should the imbalances spark a crisis.

Challenged over whether the five powers would really now act, Mr de Rato said: “One should not underestimate that these five economies . . . have willingly accepted a joint document and shared responsibility on global imbalances. Of course, we will see how things evolve in the future.”

John Lipsky, Mr de Rato’s deputy, also emphasised that “there was agreement among each of the participants in the multilateral consultation that their proposals were in their own interests as well as in the general interest”.

Among the pledges on the “to do” lists set out by the five economies, China renewed its past vow to increase the flexibility of its yuan currency, although it offered no timelines or targets.

“Exchange-rate flexibility will gradually increase, with attention paid to the value of a basket of currencies,” its statement said.

Beijing also promised to speed up banking system reform and to spur domestic demand through steps to boost household incomes and consumer spending in its rural areas. It said that cutting its trade surplus with the rest of the world would be a priority this year.

The US repeated that it would strive to narrow its budget gap over the medium term, in part by reforming the budget process to contain spending growth, even as it raised tax incentives to spur private savings.

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